The Republic City Games
by Cybu
Summary: The White Lotus have lost their true meaning in their hunger for power, and the Republic City Games are instated, in the name of peace. The Avatar Korra has been reaped, and now has to fight for her life before she can accomplish anything. Read and Review Will change rating as necessary. No Smut
1. Reapings and Farewells

**Hello lovelies! Yes, I haven't updated my other stories! Because this one has been torturing me, and I finally decided to start writing it (especially after being inspired by the wonderful mrspettyfer). As soon as Korra came out, I thought that Republic City would be amazing to be the setting. Anyways, I'll update a better version of this chapter later this week, or tomorrow, depending on my procrastination skills. Tell me what you think, if I've left anything crucial out, etc. Read and Enjoy :)**

I make my way over to my usual spot next to the White Lotus members and sit down, drumming my fingers on the fine marble. I take in the scene around me, joyless faces anxiously whispering well wishes to each other, hoping it isn't them, that it isn't their child, their sibling, their family member.

I let my mind wander, until I hear the feedback from the microphone and the radio, which is the star for the Games.. This is it. The reapings are officially beginning.

They start with District 1, the North Pole, then 2, the Fire Nation islands, 3, the FIre nation mainland. They announce the earth districts, the air nomad temples, where the air acolytes once resided...then finally, to Republic City. I have to control my cringes with each name and life being destroyed. I look forward to the crowd in front of her, and give them a beam, part of my duties of being the avatar. Avatar Korra. I stifle a derisive snort.

I look at Pema, Tenzin's wife, who's unfortunate job is to escort the Republic City tributes. And watch tributes die, time and time again. There is a sense of exhaustion in her face, and it takes her all her energy to be happy with her children, always worrying if they will be here the next year. She is carrying one right now, soon to be due. If it were up to the pregnant woman holding the microphone, she'd be childless. But, it isn't up to her, no. The White Lotus mandates that she carry children, to produce airbenders, so as to carry on Avatar Aang's legacy. Yet they are entered into the reaping to keep things fair. It would be what he wanted.

Because of that reasoning, we are all here today. Avatar Aang had told the White Lotus to carry on the legacy, to keep the world in a safe state. Unfortunately, the White Lotus took that as their invitation to ascend to supreme power, and so we live in a state of tyranny. I've been told from a young age that they were debating as to whether or not if I should be kept alive. The answer obviously was yes, and here I am, their puppet, the perfect role model, the face of Avatar Aang's legacy. So I should be a fully fledged avatar right? No. My training is limited only to keep tradition satisfied. Not even. All I've done are exercises, my training is officially incomplete. Officially being the key word. I've learnt waterbending with Katara in the dead of night. The same for my earthbending with Lin Bei Fong. Firebending with Fire Lord Zuko. And now I've been learning airbending from Tenzin.

I learn the elements in secret, and I obey to the best of my ability, and do my job as a symbol in the games. The games are-

"Korra. A-avatar Korra?" Pema calls out hesitantly, very confused. My mind goes numb. It can't be...I don't get my name put in...No...I'm supposed to be the legacy...I can't…All my training will be for- "Korra, if you will join me?" Pema looks at me with a thousand apologies written in her face.

I stand gaping, but with urges from White Lotus guards I traipse to the stage and stand there. I try to get my mind to work. Alright, I've mastered three elements, though I suck at airbending. And forget about accessing the Avatar State. I'm too rash and rough apparently. Can I help it? With how I've been brought up? Tenzin always told me how they've been afraid of the power I possess. Is that why I am now in the games? I look around, and I see the audience in a quiet frenzy. There is an uneasy chattering amongst themselves.

"The Avatar, we have decided, should have as much as a chance of being in the games as anyone else has. The Avatar before was a great believer in fairness," One member explained. Fair? When has any of this been fair? Children and teens killing each other? In the name of peace! I remain silent, for silence is the best way to protect my parents. I miss the name that Pema calls out for the male tribute, but I see the crowd part to allow a nervous boy of stout stature, when we hear-

"I volunteer!" a handsome boy with jet black hair, calls out. He strides to the stage confidently, with purpose and I find myself offering a hand to help him up. He doesn't take it, and I awkwardly move it away.

"We weren't taking volunteers until the end, but I suppose…" Pema's voice is very weary. "You are his brother, I'm assuming?"

"Yea, Mako," he gives a curt nod, with his mouth in a thin line.

"Well that's it then. You will exchange your goodbyes in the town hall, and then we'll be off to the Game Quarters. Come along."

We follow her slowly, not noticing the unceremonious disassembling going around, or anything else. What were the odds that I would be in the Games… How? My name has never been put in before (I'm sure of it), and the one year that they do, I'm in? I look at the tall boy next to me and feel a surge of respect for him. He is risking his life, probably sacrificing it, for the sake of his brother… I decide to tell him. "I respect you," it comes out a bit too hoarse.

He glances at me and turns away. "I've earned the respect of the Avatar. Aren't I overjoyed." I don't quite care for the sarcasm in his tone. I understand his predicament but, I'm in the same place that he is in.

"I'm just trying to be-" I start outraged and he cuts me off, as we walk into the Satomobile.

"Trying to be what? I'm not in the mood, oh great Avatar," he throws a bitter look at my way.

"I'm going to die too, so I get it, okay?" I mimic his tone, frustrated. So much for playing nice.  
"Whatever it is, we probably are going to try to kill each other within a few weeks, so why bother trying?"

"Well if you're going to be hostile-"  
"Aren't you? Hell, you'll probably win this thing."  
"Oh please."

"They haven't been training you for this your whole life?" he asks in disbelief.

"What training?" I say.

We arrive at the building, and enter and for some strange reason his eyes soften. Before we continue this discussion/argument, we both get escorted into our separate rooms. I suppose it's a stroke of luck that Tenzin encouraged my parent's, encouraged them vehemently, more like, to join me to the Capitol, Republic City. A stroke of luck, or did he know about this before? Is this really just a set up?

It feels like hours until I see my family, and as they enter we envelope each other in a hug. I can see my polar bear dog, Naga behind them too. She was the one luxury that the White Lotus had allowed me. I see my mother has tears running down her face, but is trying to smile for my sake. My father tells me, "Korra, you are a strong girl. You are the _Avatar_. You can win this. You will come home."

"Promise us Korra?" my Mother adds.

I sigh. "I'll try my best. Take care of Naga, please?" At her name, Naga gives a slight whimper, as though she understands what is going on. "I don't think I can take you as my token, girl."

"That reminds me," my mother quickly takes out a necklace. "Katara sent this for you." She fastens it around my neck. "She's talking with Fire Lord Zuko, or else she would be here."

"What is it?" I ask.

"Her mother's necklace. It was very special to her. She sends her blessings," my Mother says, and stares at me, before enveloping me into a tighter hug and starts sobbing.

My Father holds both of us and says, "You know she'll come home. This one is tough."

After what feels like a second, the guards take my parents and Naga away.

"We love you!" they call out.

"I love you too!" and the door shuts. I crumple to the ground. I cannot do this. They say I am brave. That I am tough. But I am very much afraid of death.

And then I wonder what will happen if I die. The world will be without an avatar, or at least, one who realizes that they are one.

What will happen then? Can things even get worse? Can there be worse laws? Harsher punishments?

They say I have a purpose. Since I am the bridge between the spirit world and this one. Perhaps I could save us all? I don't know where to start.

But first, I have to survive this thing.


	2. Hello

Pema comes to collect me and quietly helps me up. She then treats me to a smile, and says, "You'll be alright. If there's anyone that I have hope for, it's you.

Tenzin believes in you. They all do."

"What if I can't win?"I ask.

"Then you'll have done your best."

"What's the best going to do when I'm dead?"

"The best is all that matters. At least you would go down with a fight. Now, let's go take the train so we can travel to the headquarters. We'll have to wait for the other tributes to arrive there. Come along."

We traverse through the hallways, that I now notice are finely decorated. I ask, "How come I'm a Republic City tribute. Not from the Southern Tribe."

She gives a shrug. "Perhaps because you've come here to train with Tenzin they consider you citizen of Republic City. I don't know. But you are very lucky to be from the Capitol. You will get the most sponsors."

"I guess… Where's the other tribute?"

"The boy who volunteered for his brother?" I see a flash of something in Pema's eyes. "He's waiting in the Satomobile already."

"Oh. Alright."  
We walk the rest of the way in silence, and two White Lotus guards hold open the doors.

I sit down and find myself next to Mako. I notice him clutching his scarf. He doesn't spare me a glance. I do the same and turn my head away.

Pema talks to us from the front seat. "You will meet your mentors at the train station. You can choose one to have or share them equally. Your call."

"We can do both, I guess," Mako says. "Take strategies from both and do one and one."I look at him in surprise. Maybe he's not so rude after all. "If _she _doesn't mind."  
Before I open my mouth Pema says a bit coldly, "Why would she mind? I expect the two of you to be nice to each other. At least until the games. Be polite. I'm sure your Mother has taught you manners."  
"Maybe when I was young. I don't remember. I don't have a mother," he replies quietly.

"Oh...I'm sorry for your loss," Pema says.

"I'm sorry," I say. He just gives us an unreadable look and turns his head away.

We enter the station after passing through the familiar streets of the City. I walk through the station, which happens to be very elaborately decorated with different metals, and a lot of silver clocks hanging throughout.

I don't get to look around much more, as we are ushered into the train.

Pema takes us to what looks like the dining carriage, and as our trip begins I notice the other occupants in the room.

"Why hello, uhvatar," a man leers at me. I just nod at him, slightly weirded out. I'm mostly numb now, about my current predicament.

"Nice to meet you," a woman greets us, with a visible scar on her face. "Lin Bei Fong."

"Bei Fong?" surprise brings some feeling back to me. "As in, Toph Bei Fong's daughter."  
"Ya what of it?"  
"Well she was best friends with Aang."  
"That's old news," she says, with a tone that cautions me to drop it, and I do. "We're your mentors, if you couldn't tell. That strange one is Tahno."

"Strange? Well chief, who are you calling strange?"

"Chief?" I ask, puzzled.

"_Ex_-police chief. Don't worry about it kid. We have more serious issues here."

"When will you start teaching us?" Mako asks.

"Take it easy there," Tahno tells him.

Lin holds up a hand and says, "Whenever you'd like."

"What should we do as soon as we enter the arena.?"

"Run. Run like a bastard," Tahno says.

"Though I wouldn't have used the vulgarity, I agree," Lin shoots him a slight look.

Tahno snorts. "I'm plenty sure you're prone to profanity, chief."  
"I'm not the chief anymore, you-"  
"Mentors please! Please with the bickering, can we get along?" LIn looks at her and they share a strange look. Even I can sense the tension, and they hush. "Now, how about we all have some dinner, and just go to bed," she clasps her hands together and smiles at us. I haven't seen her this cheerful in a while. Maybe she just wants to be pleasant to the people who are slated to die? Or does she find hope in her unborn child. Whatever it maybe, I feel a bit happier at her smiles, forced or not.

Pema then gestures at us to follow her, and we do.

We walk into a hallway with small chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling. "The doors each have your name on it. You'll find all that you need in your rooms. Goodnight." she bows with the White Lotus symbol, and we mimic her action, and I walk into the door with Korra engraved in metal on top. I would be impressed at the fast workmanship if my situation wasn't so dire.

I enter the room and although it's compact, the few pieces of furniture are elaborate. I find it to find clothes of assorted colors, but I pick the familiar white and blue colors. And I think of the nice things I had in life. My parents. Naga. Playing in the snow. The adrenaline whenever I trained. The feel of the elements. At least I still have my elements. I let some fire into my palm, and it warms me. Tenzin always says that I should've been born in the fire nation, because I have a hot head, and he says it's bound to get me into trouble. I remember when I first discovered the elements, they always have come easy to me, and I was smashing through the walls, giving my parent's heart attacks. At least I could mend the walls as fast as I broke them. Then spread the rumors and the White Lotus came and took my life away.

Not my actual life, obviously. But I was always in the compound, rarely allowed excursions. I never had any friends, except for Naga and my masters.  
I let go the thoughts of home and go to sleep. I'll need it.


	3. The Dragon and The Moon

I wake up to knocking on my door. I open it to find Pema. "What time is...it?" I yawn.

"About seven. I'm sorry, but we'll be there in about an hour, so come quickly to breakfast."

Food or sleep. I'm so drowsy that I'm slightly conflicted. "Ok," I say, and go back into the room.

I join the others and see that they are already eating. "Morning," I mumble, and look at the choices. They have rolls, buns with jelly, and too much food to even get one of each from. I take a few and make sure to get hot chocolate, to warm up. I've had these dishes before, but my mother always reminds me that most people haven't, that most people don't even have food. "What's the schedule for today?"

"Prepping day," Pema responds. I see Lin shudder.

"Prepping?"

"They make you look pretty for the cameras," Lin says spitefully.

"They never did that for me before…" I say, feeling slightly thankful.

"Oh poor Avatar got left out, boo hoo," Mako says.

"Cool it city boy," I snap at him. "What have I done to you?"

"What have I done to the-"

"Enough," Pema breaks in giving him a warning look to not finish the sentence. "Would it _kill _you to be pleasant?"

"Actually…"

"_Before the Games just please_ _be nice to each other. Understood? Or else they will be looking for new tributes," _Pema coughs and leaves the table with that.

"Damn...Pregnant lady gave it to you," Tahno mutters, slightly in awe. "Now, scarf boy, you better listen. Or else we aren't going to help you much."

"Alright…" Mako relents, and he actually looks ashamed. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just...you have to understand I...My whole life I-"

"It's ok," I cut him off. "Let's just start over, and forget this. My name is Korra."

He smiles. His smile takes me aback… What? I have to kill him soon. I can't be thrown off by just a movement of his lips. _I can't kill him… _Why not? "Mako. Nice to meet you," he sticks out his hand. I grasp it. It's warm.

"Excellent," Tahno says. "Now, hurry up children, and finish your food."

"Children," Mako and I scoff. "And how old are you, pretty boy?"

"Has age ever mattered in theses Games?" he asks softly, with more to it under a slight teasing tone. HIs question shuts us all up and we finish our meal in silence.

I understand now the horror that Lin made the word "prepping" into. I am gritting my teeth and am one pluck of hair away from lashing out. I don't like this. At _all._ Why am I being tortured already?

"Ugh," I groan and receive a swat on the head from one of the members from my prep team. Mako and me each get our own duo of people who work on our bodies, and we share a stylist.

"No complaining," a man tells me. He has a hairstyle similar to Tahno's, with Tahno's curls only slightly more show-offy then this man's.

"You are plucking me like a lion-pheasant, how am I supposed to react?" I say through my gritted teeth.

"Leave her be, Shihong," the woman says. "She's been our most pleasant tribute yet." Me? Pleasant? I snort. That's a first. "_And_ she's the _Avatar_."

"True," the man agrees. How is that relevant? "Should make for some interesting games this year, huh Jie?" He looks at me eagerly. "Maybe we can see that Avatar State?"

He waits for an answer.

"Huh? I haven't exactly gotten that down yet."

"Really? Well, you have all four elements," Jie says.

"Not really."

They both peer at me with a slight look of worry. Strange, I thought they wouldn't be able to feel that, after hearing all of their excitement over the Games. "Well dear, you're still the Avatar. We're sure you'll win."

"You'll do fine," Shihong agrees, nodding his head vigorously. "Now. We're almost done. We've done legs, arms, eyebrows. Asami will come in right now, and she'll tell us what to do."

I nod my head, and adjust my robe. A few moments of silence, _finally_, and who I assume to be Asami walks in. She has long jet black curls, with dark makeup and she wears a dark red coat with matching pants, and dark boots. She holds her hand out and says, "Asami Sato, pleased to meet you." I take her hand and shake it. "Hiroshi Sato's daughter? The guy who made the Satomobiles?"

"Yes. Now then," she clasps her hands and begins to walk around me. "You have to represent Republic City. But Republic City comes from a blend of the four nation's vultures, and it mixes with technology. They know us for our cars. They know us for our probending arena. They _expect_ us to be modern. But how do we make this interesting? We _should_ have our roots. Where we came from. You, are from the water tribe. But you are the Avatar. Mako is a firebender. We make you your originals. And present you as a _team_." She stops in front of me and smiles, cocking her head to the side. And she gives me a devilish smile that I don't approve of.

"What is this!" I snarl at Asami, thrusting my free hand at her.

"Well, I did say we have to present you as a team."

"But why! And like this!"

"Come on," Mako groans. "We won't look like a team. We'll look like a _couple._"

Asami puts her finger on her chin. "Well that's a thought." My expletive gets drowned out by the fireworks in the background. The sky is pitch black, but there are millions of lights surrounding us, along with the fireworks in the sky. And I notice something different. I see screens...and our faces are on there! But how? I see there are shining beams of light, and somehow they must have projected it on there. Is this how they're doing the games this year? No more radio? "Now come on," she ushers into our golden Satomobile. "Smile for the cameras!"

"Traditional she says," I mutter furiously.

"A team she says," Mako adds.

"Smile!" we hear her call and we do. I feel like I'm grimacing.

"And look folks, the first pair of tributes come rolling in, from Republic City, the Avatar and-what is that?" Shiro Shinobi, the announcer and commentator of the Games stops. "It's simple, but stunning. The Avatar appears to be dressed in what seems to be the moon spirit, wrapped by a-a...dragon? Yes dragon, and that dragon also appears to be part of her part- I mean male tribute's outfit. They seem to be connected…The dragon breathes fire, and the moon spirit moves, but there isn't any bending shown..."

And Asami has done it. The word team doesn't exist in the Games vocabulary. Allies, yes. But there's a sense of friendship, a sense of dependency in our costumes. And-I stifle a weird feeling, but as Mako says, we look like a couple. She added intimacy into our costumes. Our two costumes manage to intertwine, neither seeming complete without the others. She says she shows our personality through our costumes. I call it her insanity. She wanted to make this memorable. But who would forget the Avatar, the girl they are looking forward to seeing thrown into the bloodbath?

District One, the tributes from the North Pole wear blue dresses and cloaks, representing their culture. They wear white wigs symbolic of Yue, the spirit I am dressed as, with white hair and pale makeup. I look back and see their scowls thrown at me, as I may have stolen their thunder, thanks to Asami. I try to smile apologetically, but instead they sneer at me and Mako squeezes my hand. As if he knew I was going to do something...immature as to stick my tongue out at them. I glance at him and he quickly pulls his hand back and turns away, blushing. I notice under his scarlet red costume, full of beautiful scales, they seem to be made of some animal skin, and it looks amazing, but still masculine. And I see that she has even managed to keep his scarf within his costume. The head of his costume rests on my shoulder, and she carefully placed the mouth to breathe fire away from me, using some sort of jet inside. She placed small fans within my costume, making it look like I'm bobbing up and down. I honestly don't know hows she's done it. She seems to have kept both our tokens, as I have Katara's necklace around my neck.

The fire nation districts wear a various array of colors, red, crimsons, golds. A few of them have something of a dragon, but nothing as spectacular as Asami's design. The earth districts have greens and yellows, and browns. Some of them are rocks. The air acolytes have their yellows and oranges, and many of them are given wings. At last I see the South Pole tributes, where I probably should have been reaped up and realize in horror who one of them is. It's Sokka's granddaughter! I groan and put my hand on my temple. I can't kill her. I even taught her waterbending! I've played with her. It would be like killing my own sister. Her name is Kanna, and I should've recognized it before! Was that why Katara wasn't there to say goodbye? Mako notices my distress and aaks "What's wrong?"

"I know that tribute. She's a close family friend. Sokka's granddaughter?"

"Sokka the Avatar's friend?"

"Yes," I look at him helplessly. "What am I supposed to do? She's barely twelve!"

"You could be her ally. Until the end, I guess," he says.

"Yeah…" I finger my necklace, and hold it towards him. "Why do I have this then? It belonged to Katara's mother."

"She must have something else," he replies. He looks almost sorry for me, not that I can really tell, because he has red and gold paint all over his face. "You'll figure it out." That's all he says, because we reach to the end of our path, and are helped out of the Satomobile by Asami.

"You guys looked great! But would it have killed you to smile a bit more?" she reproaches us.

"You couldn't even see our faces!" Mako retorts. "How will they recognize us in the arena?"

She waves her head. "Hey, you made your impression. From here on out, trust me. They'll know you." And she gives another mischievous grin that makes Mako shuffle.

"Ok fine, whatever. Now can you help us become our own people again?" I ask, putting my free hand on my hip.

"Nah, I can't do that. You two need to do that yourselves," she points her pointer fingers at us."Good night!"

"Wait what?" we shout at her and she leaves before we can catch up. I start jerking from him and his head bobs along.

"This...isn't...the...way...to...can...stop!" he says between jerks. "Korra!" he tries to pull back. Instead of doing anything we both spin and fall onto the ground, me on top of him, and we freeze staring into each others painted faces.

That is, until we hear a camera flash.


	4. Quite an Ordeal

**Sorry for the wait, but I've been dying with work overload and no sleep. So I present a new chapter, and hope that a new one comes soon. I've been very sad about the Newtown incident today... Happy holidays, just in case if no update before whatever you celebrate. Love you all, read and review! Enjoy!**

**Quite an Ordeal**

"Ooh, do I sense some romance brewing," we hear a journalist say.

"What? No!" I shout as I try to wriggle my way out from under Mako. Damn this blasted costume. At least (now I notice) Asami turned it off for us when she helped us out of the Satomobile, or else we would've been fried by now.

"That's not what I see," the journalist says as he walks away.

"Ugh. Great!" Mako says. "That stylist just had to...she's crazy!"

"I know…"

"And you just couldn't be patient enough could you? Do you think things through? I don't think you do." What? How dare he attack me like this? He thinks he knows everything, does he?

"How can you base that off of one thing! I'm sorry okay!"

"Well you should be. And it's pretty obvious."

"Um, no it's not. You don't know ... _you_ seem to have stick up your ass," I tell him defiantly. I see him turning a shade of red that isn't the paint.

"How do you know? Sorry for being worried about my brother! Sorry that I'm not that excited to go fight to my death!"

"That doesn't excuse you!"

"And I thought we were over this!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

We stay in silence for a few moments, and then we realize our compromising position, as we hear footsteps and look at each other in terror. "What should we do?" I ask.

"We get to the elevator."

"How?"

"use your imagination."

"Excuse me, at least I have one-"

"Can you airbend?"

"I-"

"Can you? or can you not?

"I can't…"

"Just keep up. Hurry." We squirm away, very awkwardly to where the elevators are, which are operated by some sort of pulley, Asami told me, and something with benders. She says metal benders help operate everything. Maybe that could explain those screens we saw… "Focus Korra!"

"Gah!" we finally manage to reach a button, and thankfully, _thankfully,_ it opens and we give ourselves a push inside. And we lie there breathing heavily from the exertion. "This...may have been...the strangest thing...I've ever done...I haven't been this tired...in _ages_…"

"Same," Mako nods, and we look at each other and burst out laughing. And we can't stop. And it feels like a really weird sensation, with our bodies laughing against each other. As the doors open, we give another lunge, and finally rest up against the wall, trying to figure it out. It's like a puzzle. That we should have paid more attention to when it was being set up.

"Ok, I think she was latching things to each other or something...Maybe there are hooks somewhere?" I say, and he cocks his head thoughtfully.

"Could be…" he reaches first where the dragon's head still rests perfectly on my shoulder, even after that...ordeal, and begins digging around under it, on my shoulder.

"Be careful," I tell him.

He freezes for a second and blushes. His blush is more clear now, as our struggle wiped a lot of the paint off of our faces. "Right...sorry…" What did he think I- Oh!

"I mean about the switch for the fire?" I raise my eyebrow at him.

He blushes once more and says, "Yeah...I know."

I can't help but laugh, and he joins me, albeit a bit awkwardly. "We are going to give her hell, aren't we?" I say.

"Oh, yes we are," he says a bit too vehemently, and I laugh again. "I swear, we won't have any energy left for the the games, if we have to fight like this against our costumes."

"Or even wear something this bulky," I tug at my fabric. Sure it's _nice_, it's beautiful. But not too comfortable...

"We'll end up deformed at the Gong," he adds. The Gong is a symbol of the games, where the the head gamemaker, the one in control of torturing us, manipulating the Games, sends out his element to show the start of the games, the point where we are allowed to begin. If we begin before the Gong, apparently we explode. They have these mines that we stand and the metalbenders and firebenders rig it. There's also a lot of stuff scattered around it, survival stuff and weapons. I've never seen any of this, but Pema and Katara tells me of it. He shuffles a bit more and says, "There!" giving a jerk and unlatching part of the dragon's head. The head was dangling awkwardly, and I put my hand up to help. We both search some more until our hands touch. Neither of us pull away until I finally keep looking.

Eventually both of us gain some independence, enough to get up and walk, and we decide to make our way to the rooms to finish up.

"I wonder if this is actually just a part of our training," I remark thoughtfully, as I sit in the Common Area for where our rooms are for our District.

"Essential survival skills," Mako adds with a serious expression.

"Don't mock me," I say.

"Who says I was?" he asks with an over exaggerated look of affront, and I whack his arm. As if we are friends. I think he has the same thought because he looks at me strangely for a second, before whipping his head away. "We should finish this up," he makes a gesture at our costumes, still connected to each other, and he swiftly undoes

the rest of the hooks. "There," he says softly. "It's done. Goodnight." He leaves the room with barely a glance at me, leaving me slightly confused. I shake my head and go to discard my makeup and costume, returning myself to a normal Korra, who doesn't have any reminders of this night, except her fatigue. A happy fatigue.

The next morning, (eight am I should say, apparently it's necessary to be in the training arena by ten) we all sit in silence, me and Mako sharing a quiet anticipation, waiting for our _beloved_ stylist to come in, so we can unleash our wrath on her. But mostly that's all we are sharing. It's like he's forcing himself not to smile back at me, and then forgets and laughs. I've already told the tale of last night to Pema and our mentors, who have laughed at our struggle. Lin had clucked her tongue muttering something about the impracticality of fancy outfits, and how that was the reason of why Asami had insisted them to stay away from them. And finally Asami comes in looking away, and avoiding our stares. That is until Mako coughs loudly. "So. Last night was pretty incredible for us huh?"

She says nothing.

"You did a fine job right Korra?" he nods at me. The first thing he's said to me today that wasn't a reply.

"Right," I bob my head. "_Fantastic_."

"Great plan you had there, Korra and I found." His voice was oozing with sarcasm.

"Leaving us alone, connected, crawling on the floor. Bruised. Tortured. Traumatized," I grit my teeth harder with every word I say.

She peers at us unabashed and shrugs. "You're here now just fine right now, aren't you. Stop complaining," and she pops a roll in her mouth, casually eating.

"You are not giving us any more of these, odd co-dependent costumes!" I shout at her. "You know there was a reporter, who took a picture of us?" I tell her, and Lin and Tahno jump at this.

"You left this crucial bit out, you two," Lin narrows her eyes at us, in a way that makes us slump into our seats a bit. Tahno gives a chuckle.

"Nice job you guys," he says with a smirk. He laces his fingers together. "This can very well work to our advantage. I'll be back," he gets up from the table and exits the room, while Lin looks after him contemplatively. I look at Mako who looks very grumpy. It seems as though our confrontation and revenge isn't happening. I feel very wrong-footed.

We go clean up and sit on the couches as Pema briefs us in on our day. "Today you'll begin your training sessions. Each day at ten AM. Got it?"

"Mornings are evil," I huff.

"Anyway, Lin will tell you what to do, as your other mentor seems to be missing."  
"No he isn't," we hear Tahno's voice as we see his hand is slightly behind his back. Is he hiding something. "Gotta go to the guy's room. One sec." We wait and he joins us. "You can start, chief," he says.

She bristles at the word chief and starts, "Don't show what you are capable of to the other tributes."  
"But won't that show we are weak? Vulnerable?" Mako asks.

"You let them know with your scores. But you don't have to let them know. it could easily just be part of your strategy. I suggest studying things you don't know about in the training center. Show your strengths when you have your private sessions with the Gamemakers. That's when you need it. There. In the arena. I suggest Mako try to get a high score for the mentors. Korra...she will be a target either way. Just don't show what your weaknesses are. Don't show your strengths. Understood?" she says. We nod our heads in agreement.

"Oh," Tahno adds. "Don't get into any fights. Don't bait anyone, don't let yourself get baited. Watch your tempers, watch your words."

"Remember that Korra," Pema looks at me.

"What? Why me!" I say furiously. "When have I been a hothead. I can't believe that-"  
"Korra," they all say. And I pout.

"Your outfits are on your beds. You shouldn't find them so difficult," she says a bit coldly.

I feel a stab of guilt. Great. "Asami...You're outfits were truly amazing." I go up to her and give her a hug, which startles her. But she returns it. "Come on Mako," I say. I thought that he would decline but I feel another set of arms join us. And inside, I feel something stir.

And do I dare understand him now?


End file.
